May is a lot of fun here in the Grand Valley. While every month is great to be a rider around here, to help kick off the riding season this month is the official Grand Valley Bike Month.

We just wrapped up the Fruita Fat Tire Festival, which is always a lot of fun, and later this month we also have the Grand Valley Mountain Bike Film Festival, which will feature some films by local producers. One of the films is from my friends Caleb and Tim at Lightbulb Media and highlights all of the different kind of riding you can fit into a day around here.

The huge variety of trails is the main reason I moved here and I was happy to be able to support their film through my company Pedaling Innovations. Having such a great area to test the Catalyst Pedals was why I was so confident that they were game-changers for any type of riding – if they can keep up with everything this valley throws at them they can handle just about anything.

Of course, with all the extra riding that is going to start happening it’s also important to keep up with your strength training. In this month’s workout we’re focusing on single leg and single arm exercises with our Ramping Isometrics in order to iron out any strength differences that might start to show up as you ride more. We also have some broad jump work to help develop your hip drive and “stomp” needed for manualing and jumping.

You can download the workout by signing up below below. Just enter you email and you’ll get the link to download the PDF to your computer. Each exercise has a link to a video demo so you have everything you need to get going.

Remember to start and end you workout with some sort of mobility routine. It’s important to be moving well before you start training, otherwise you’re just laying fitness on top of dysfunction. You can check out this blog post for a follow-along demo of a good routine to use if you need one.

BTW, you’ll see I incorporate some unique training tools and methods like Ramping Isometrics and the Steel Mace into these workouts. I do provide some alternatives if you don’t have some of the training tools I do but it’s a good way to see how to use these things in a workout.

Hope you enjoy thing month’s workout and that it helps you enjoy your spring riding even more. Being fit helps you have more fun and that’s what the ultimate goal should always be.

Until next time…

Ride Strong,

James Wilson
MTB Strength Training Systems